Monday, 17 April 2017

Well, I've been talking about it for a while now, and have been moving closer and closer, but I finally took the plunge and had a go at a little mixed media. I have started with a mini 8" x 8" canvas as I thought it wouldn't be too daunting. I'll be honest, even though it is a little canvas, it was daunting!

I have kept it simple, really just to and get used to products that are unfamiliar to me, in this case Gesso and texture paste. I have tried various brands of white Gesso, I like Prima ArtBasics white heavy gesso, but best of all I think is Pentart Gesso, which is also heavy bodied and the whitest Gesso of all that I have tried.

I have to say I love Gesso, although it is a primer, it is lovely brushed over pattered paper to add softness to a project and provide a base if further ink or paint is to be added. In this case I wanted the Gesso to add softness and highlights to the canvas so I only added ink some parts and painted Gesso in other areas to provide the white space that I so crave.

Rather than using pre-printed papers, I used some of my own Gelli prints to cut up and use in my layout. Although some of the colour is lost you can still see the pattern through the Gesso and the lovely touches of gold. I added Ranger texture paste with my Prima flourish stencil. Again, with a dry brush I added some Gesso to highlight areas of the textured flourish.

I love the muted colours created by using distress ink in Victorian Velvet and Lindy's Cattail Copper Brown, and I added some shadow to the pieces of card to emphasise the shape of the layout. I think the colours give the whole canvas a vintage look.

I've kept the finish simple, in the style of some of my recently completed cards, as I am more focusing on the background at present.

I know it isn't perfect, but then I don't think mixed media is supposed to be. I think what I mean is I know with practice I can improve but is is a start!

I have to say I loved creating this canvas and as much as I love clean and simple, for me I feel mixed media gives me more creative freedom.